Goodbye Franklin County! Hello Phase 5!

After being home in RI for a few days, Tuesday I took a one-night trip back to Turners Falls, MA to load up another carload of things. My house was borderline empty and I don't think I had ever felt so lonely in my life the night that night I stayed there. Wednesday evening before I left town, I hopped over to Greenfield to go to Poet's Seat Tower one last time. For those of you who don't know, it's just a big look out spot on a mountain overlooking the Green Valley. It was one of the first places I visited when I moved to go to Hallmark, as I'm sure many of you fellow classmates did. I took in all the scenery and dwelled on how life-changing the past 10 months were for me perfectly. In 10 months I think I have felt every emotion humanly possible. It is so hard to leave so many people and things behind that have grown to mean the world to me, and I will always feel an emptiness for the experiences I had there. My heart is in a million different places now, and I don't see that changing for a while.

On a completely different lighter note, I have my first job as a graduate tonight! In about an hour I will leave to drive out towards a beach near Boston to shoot a wedding party. It ends around midnight and I'll drive back to Rhode Island, get a few hours of sleep, then head out again to assist a Hallmark Grad of 10 years ago (Katie Malone Smith) with a wedding out in New Haven, CT. I'm so excited to finally be working! The full-time job-hunt is still very much underway though. Can't wait to tell you how this weekend went!

Relay for Life!

Yesterday after class, me and about 19 other Hallmark students volunteered our first half of the weekend to Franklin County's Relay for Life event. It was a 24-hour event and I didn't get home till about 4 o'clock today but it was an AMAZING time. We built some studios and photographed tons of teams who were walking to raise money for a cure for cancer, as well as took general pictures of the whole event. I got no sleep, hardly anyone did, but it was such a fun time. I would highly recommend getting involved in Relay for Life, where-ever it may be for you, because it was a moving couple of days for me. My area's event raised $285,000 for the American Cancer Society, so incredible! :D

In other news, my final portfolio went up for review at school this week, and I passed! Congrats to everyone who's portfolio has already been, or is yet to be, ACCEPTED !! :) Graduation is next friday the 19th, and then I am officially a "professional". EXPLOIT ME! Which reminds me that my new website was launched at the beginning of this week, too! A new wedding gallery was added as well, go check it out!

Okay it's late, my body is tired but I can't sleep and I feel like I'm rambling so I'll leave you with a couple snapshots of todays beautiful weather at the event.